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GAZETTE
JULY
Norman of the Institute then deals with processes of
mechanization such as telex, computers, union
catalogues, the MARC system of the Library of Congress
and subject analysis.
The detailed Index of Works Cited alphabetically
comprises no less than 51 pages. It will thus be seen that
the needs of the English and Scots Law Librarians have
been magnificently served by this volume. On the whole,
Jill Mclvor has seen to it that, in the relevant places,
Northern Ireland gets its fair share of mention, save that
the invaluable monthly unreported judgments of the
Incorporated Council of Law Reporting in Northern
Ireland, published with an Index in blue covers
continuously since 1970, do not appear to have been
mentioned.
The same cannot be said about the Republic of Ireland,
because, as far as is known, the text was not submitted to
any law librarian here.
Inter alia,
mention must be make
of the following:—
(1) Delany's
Administration of Justice in Ireland
almost
in its 5th edition, is not even mentioned.
(2) It is stated at page 33, that in the Republic of Ireland,
the function of the National Library is performed by
Trinity College. This will hardly please the hard
working staff of the National Library.
(3) One would not expect our Society with its 1,700
members to have the same library space as the
English Law Society with its 20,000 members.
(4) The Common Law of Ireland was not identical with,
but separate from the Common Law of England. See
Byrne v. Ireland
(1972) I.R.
(5) The Irish Constitution of 1937, which is the
Fundamental Law of the land, supplanting all
Statutes, is inaccurately described in
4
lines. The
importance of Irish constitutional case law could
have been stressed.
(6) No distinction is made between the Irish Jurist (1935-
65), which contained reported cases, and the present
Irish Jurist from 1966, which is an academic legal
journal of a high standard.
(7) The earlier Irish named Reports, prior to the Irish
Law Reports (1839) are barely mentioned.
(8) It is blandly stated that there is no legal literature of
any substance on Irish law reports, and law
reporting: see Geoffrey Bing's lecture to the Society
of Young Solicitors.
(9) The list of Irish official publications is incomplete.
(10) Delany's work on Chief Baron Palles, which
contains a list of Irish judges from 1878 to 1921,
should have been included amongst legal
bibliographies.
These are only the most important omissions. The
main work can be recommended as a model of its kind,
and anyone who wishes to learn anything about Law
Librarianship cannot afford to be without it.
The Law Reform Commission (Working Paper No. 1-1977)
The law relating to the Liability of Builders,
Vendors and Lessors for the Quality and
Fitness of Premises
The working paper, in reviewing the present law relating
to builders, vendors and lessors of premises, highlights the
absence of legal protection for purchasers and lessees.
House purchasers in making what is commonly referred
to as
v
*the longest payment of their lives" are
inadequately protected by the law as it now stands.
Purchasers and hirers of goods receive a measure of legal
protection in the Sale of Goods Act 1893 and the Hire
Purchase Acts 1946-60, but the purchasers or lessees of
land (including houses) have little or no such protection.
For them the legal rule is expressed in the maxim:
caveat
emptor—
let the buyer beware. The house purchaser has
to look for himself. This is most vividly expressed by the
judicial dictum that there is no law against letting or
Selling a "tumbledown house".
The Law Reform Commission takes the view that
house purchasers (whether full owners or lessees) should
get more protection from the law and to this end it has
prepared for discussion a working paper proposing a
general scheme of new legislation to improve their lot in
several ways, the most important of which are:
(i) Any person who undertakes building work should
owe a duty to see that the work is done in a good and
workmanlike (or professional) manner and with proper
materials. Where the premises consist of a dwelling,
the builder should have a legal duty to ensure that
they will be reasonably fit for habitation. It is to be
noted that these duties will also be imposed on the
participating financial "backers" of the builder.
(ii) Where a person sells or leases premises in the course
of business and where the buyer/lessee makes known
the purpose for which he wants the premises, a
118
condition should be implied in the contract that the
premises are reasonably fit for that particular
purpose.
(iii) In so far as injury to persons or property results from
defects in premises, vendors and lessors should owe a
duty to take reasonable care to see that persons who
might be affected by these defects are not injured in
their person or in their property by the defects.
However, for the vendor or lessor to be bound, such
defects must have been known to him, and must exist
at the time of the sale or lease.
(iv) Breach of any duty imposed by the legislation will
give the purchaser/lessee a right to damages.
(v) The rights given under the new legislation should be
in addition to any other common lawrights which the
purchaser/lessee might have. The new law should
ensure that the proposed statutory obligations are
mandatory ones, incapable of being excluded by
contract.
The working
paper
also suggests that these reforms
should be reinforced by a scheme that would ensure the
technical ability and the financial stability of builders.
This, however, it suggests could be achieved by a
Registration Scheme which need not be statutory in form.
Many precedents for such schemes exist in other
countries and there is also the recently proposed scheme
announced by the Department of Local Government and
the C.I.F. (Construction Industry Federation) which,
however, the Commission does not recommend.
Comments on the working paper are invited by 1
November, 1977.
Copies of the working paper may be obtained from
The Law Reform Commission, River House, Chancery
Street, Dublin, 7, or W. King Limited, Law Stationers,
18 Eustace Street, Dublin, 2. Price £1.50 Net.